Getting Back on Track Part One

Since I've fallen off the weight loss train for March, I thought it would be nice to set some goals now that I'm feeling motivated again. April is going to be a very stressful month for me, because I have a spring music program at work, a poster presentation for my ethics class (group project), and a case study for my assessment/testing class (another group project). I do have a tendency to use these types of things as excuses, but I really need to get over that. Yes, I want to be a great music teacher. Yes, I also want to get A's in my classes and place at the poster presentation. This doesn't mean that I need to put weight loss on the back burner again though. I've been thinking and planning on ways to ensure some success if I can make some simple and good choices along the way.  Here is part one of getting back on track...

The Meal Plan

I've decided in order to save time and money, I would make a meal plan that would last until April 28th (basically one month). I bought most of the food already, so I don't have to do much shopping except a couple of fresh ingredients here and there. I've also decided with the craziness that will ensue to keep everything simple and easy (yes even easier than usual) to make. Here is my simple, cheap, and easy meal plan for the month:

Breakfast

• oatmeal
• fruit bites/ropes
• either Greek yogurt or egg whites

Snack

• Special K protein granola bar

Snack

• carrots with ranch dip
• light string cheese

Since I'm trying to save $$, I buy the bags of baby carrots and just keep a bottle of dressing in my fridge at work to dip them in.

Lunch

• peanut butter and jelly (whole wheat 100 calorie sandwich thins, low sodium peanut butter, and sugar free strawberry preserves)
• applesauce
• if needed, a veggie

Snack

• apple
• light string cheese

Same idea applies here to saving $$ again. I bought a big bag of apples instead of the pre-sliced ones.

Dinner

• week one: my easy and healthy pizza
• week two: turkey burgers + sweet potato fries
• week three: my healthier pizza again!

Other snacks if needed

• cupcakes made with one box cake mix + one 12 oz. can of diet soda
• 94% fat free popcorn
• jello
• 100 calorie ice cream bars

 

 

I will try to occasionally post pictures of what I eat on my Facebook page. As you can see, I'll be eating a lot of the same thing so I won't bore you with 20 pictures of the same meal. :)

Food for the Week and Daily Life

Monday and Tuesday have been good and productive days. Monday I didn't have to go to work or school because of MLK Jr. Day. I slept in until 6:30ish (Hey, that is sleeping in for me!) and spent the first part of my morning cooking my food for the week.

My three ingredient meatloaf that I found in the Hungry Girl 300 under 300 cookbook.

Another recipe from the cookbook mentioned above and also three ingredients. Since it was one of those things you make when you want it, I got all the things ready and put in the same drawer in the fridge.

All my snacks portioned out and ready to go.

I also did some chores like laundry, dishes, picking up stuff and putting it away. I took Benjamin to the vet to get his annual heart worm check.

Benjamin is a crazy one, but he is good to us.

I spent the afternoon running errands at a few stores and then went to the gym to do my workout plan on the machines. The evening was spent getting things ready for work and doing some reading for school.

Tuesday was a pretty typical work day. It was pretty darn cold though. Some parts of the state were so cold that schools had two hour delays. We didn't though. After work I ran to the Dollar Tree to pick up some 100 calorie packs of cookies (six for $1 is a good deal).

Then I went to the gym and did some walking on the treadmill. On the way home I stopped at the post office to mail a couple of gifts for some family members. I only had three people in front of me in line, so that was a positive. My plans for tonight are to do some dishes and laundry, play a little Song Pop and Sing Party, and read some more of the ACA code of ethics for school. I know I lead an exciting life. ;)

 
Random thought: I forgot to include this last week, but I walked into my classroom and found that the numbers/words I had on the board looked like they have melted into an evil smiley face. It was weird and creepy, but I think it was just because they used the wrong cleaner on the board.

I've planned out my food for the week like I have been doing, so here is the plan...

And here are the pictures:

Breakfast

Snack

Snack

Lunch

Snack

Dinner

Snack

Weekend Rewind

It has been hard to find time to get on the computer that has the Internet again, so that is why I’m behind on posts. This post will cover Saturday and Sunday which are days

Into my month long goal of losing 4-8 pounds.

There isn’t much to say about Saturday. I spent the morning doing grocery shopping and errands. I then got lunch with my husband and father-in-law. I decided to try the turkey, bacon, and ranch wrap. It came with fries and soup, so I ate the soup and about five fries. I still ended up falling asleep when I came home, so I guess the flour tortilla was too much for me.

I woke up from my nap feeling disgusting and more tired than when I fell asleep. I couldn’t talk the hubby into a walk, so I saddled up a wild doxie named Benjamin and walked a couple of blocks.

I rounded out Saturday night by playing a couple of games on Mario Party 9 for the Wii. I always end up losing to my hubby, but it is still fun to play together. And for the record, Wario (which was a computer) cheated on the second game and we BOTH lost to the computer!

Sunday was a much more productive day. I spent most of the day doing things I needed to get done for this coming week at work. I spent from around 10:00-3:00 at work getting things set up for the Spring Program and around my room.

To be fair, I did meet up with my husband and father-in-law for lunch at Red Lobster which took up part of my time mentioned above.

I then got some cooking and portioning out of food done for the week. I know I’ll be busy, tired, and stressed this week with the program coming up. I decided to make it foolproof to keep my goals for the week by getting most of the food ready ahead of time.

 I also made an easy lunch of steamed broccoli, rice, and baked chicken. The broccoli and rice came out of a bag I could pop in the microwave.

The chicken was also easy. I defrosted it first, sprinkled it with some seasoned salt and pepper, then threw it in the basket and baked it in the Ronco rotisserie oven.

So here are my lunches for the week.